The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is riding high after seizing more than 16 tons of marijuana worth an estimated street value north of a billion dollars.
The department announced the seizure of 33,480 lbs. of harvested marijuana, totaling $1.19 billion in street value, and 131 arrests on Wednesday, 19 of which were for water theft. Officials also seized 65 vehicles, $28,000 in cash, and 33 firearms, while they also recovered 180 animals and demolished 30 growing locations.
The bust was the result of the Marijuana Eradication Operation, which began on June 8 and lasted for a 10-day period.
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“Most Californians would be shocked and disappointed at the amount of water these unlicensed, illegal grows are using, especially as California suffers from a drought,” Drug Enforcement Administration Associate Special Agent in Charge Curt Fallin said. “By our calculation, the illegal grows in Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties require an astounding 5.4 million gallons of water a day, every day.”
Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris attributed the massive bust to drug cartels.
“We’re talking about the cartels,” he said at a press conference, according to CBS News. “We are not talking about mom and pop people selling marijuana that they grew in their backyard. This is the cartels. We are very, very close to driving down the freeway and seeing bodies hanging from the overpasses. That is what’s coming.”
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While California voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2016 and began selling it in 2018, the number of illegal marijuana operations has lit up over the last year. Narcotics Bureau detectives identified 150 such operations in 2020 in the Antelope Valley and uncovered 500 of them already this year.
“What we want to do is send a clear and loud message to all the cartels and anyone doing illegal operations in the high desert: ‘Your days here are over, and we’re coming for you,’” Sheriff Alex Villanueva said.
